Forever Red
by Michelle Claire Williams
Summary: Book 3 of the Red saga - Dispatch 1799, three Shinigami are starting their training to become qualified members of the organisation. William Spears and Alexandra Winter cross paths with a unruly red head that seems bent on making their lives hell. GSxOC
1. Chapter 1

Hidden from the eyes of mere mortals, Dispatch suddenly loomed into view, a dozen huge buildings towering above the city were closely knitted together in rows separated by tree lined lanes winding in and out; the whole campus was extremely extensive and anyone would have easily been able to get lost if they hadn't been there before. Shinigami were walking to and from dispatch and new initiates could be seen asking for directions from the qualified members; today was the start of a new batch of trainee's at the academy and there were a lot of hopeful candidates looking quite excited and nervous, not all of the would make it in the end.

Walking slowly down one of the tree lined lanes between two of the huge buildings were a boy and a girl who looked like they knew exactly where they were going, they were both dressed in black, wearing glasses and deep in conversation. They were both quite tall but the boy was a little taller than the girl, he had jet black hair with his fringe lightly sweeping his forehead and his eyebrows were drawn in making him look quite serious if it hadn't been for the slight smile he was wearing when he was talking to his companion. The girl had dark crimson hair swept up on her head with a long sweeping fringe and loose strands of hair falling down the back of her neck; she was very attractive with long lashes and pale almost white skin.

"Are you sure you know where you're going?" The girl said with one raised eyebrow as she eyed the boy suspiciously, "I'm sure we've been this way already."

"I know where I'm going," The boy said assuredly quickly looking about to confirm to himself that he actually did know where he was going, "You would too if you'd come to the open day with me."

"I didn't need to; I knew I wanted to be here anyway." The girl said brushing him off and eyeing up two qualified field agents that were passing her by, they looked extremely handsome in their uniforms and carrying their death scythes that she couldn't help but stare.

"Yes but it would have been good for you to see what you were getting yourself into. You always dive into things headfirst without thinking about them. You might not like it here after all, you're not suited to sitting around shuffling papers at a desk in my opinion." The boy said pushing his glasses up and smiling as he saw the girl's expression of irritation she was trying to hide.

"Thanks for reminding me." The girl said unenthusiastically and then she crossed her arms and huffed, "Who says female Shinigami can't be field agents, it's stupid, everyone knows that women can be just as good as and most times even better than men. I don't get it, it's just...sexist." The girl stamped her high heel on the ground and stopped in her tracks in annoyance, the boy put his hand on her shoulder and she eased up, "Sorry."

"You always get like this," The boy said, "Just forget about it, the rules aren't going to change so stop getting so stressed and just be satisfied that you might be a part of all this." The boy gestured around to the buildings with a proud look on his face but the girl grimaced at him and raised an eyebrow again.

"Might?" The girl said flatly, "Will, I'm going to get into Dispatch whether you like it or not."

"With your grades, you have a better chance than me." The boy, Will, said looking serious, "You pick things up so easily, there's still so much I have to catch up on."

"Well then! It's a good job you've got me!" The girl said flinging her arm around his shoulders and squeezing him into her side tightly.

"Ah Alex, stop it." Will said wriggling away and walking hastily off ahead of him with a slight flush in his cheeks, "Come on, its nearly nine, we'll be late." Will headed for a building in front of him not daring to turn round for fear of her seeing his face; Alex shrugged and followed him with a slight smirk, roll of her eyes and shake of her head.

William T. Spears and Alexandra Rose Winter had known each other for a few months now, their parents had been acquaintances from Dispatch and they had met a meal and had immediately gotten along, they shared the same passion and interest for Dispatch and wanted to follow in their parents footsteps and join the academy. They had both agreed to keep each other company during their training and help each other along as much as possible; they had been speaking very regularly and eagerly swapping revision notes and holding long conversations on what they thought they were going to experience when they got there. It had seemed years away that the day would come but now they were finally here and as cool and collected as they looked they were both wracked with nerves.

Will and Alex finally found where they were supposed to be, Lecture room 1, when they entered the room there were rows and rows of desks leading up the back and already there were quite a lot of initiates waiting patiently and chatting away nervously amongst themselves. Will and Alex found a seat near the front and waited patiently, Alex kept swivelling around in her chair looking at all the other initiates, there were a lot of male Shinigami but not a lot of females but this didn't bother her, she didn't really get along with other girls.

A few minutes passed and the clock locked on to nine, all the initiates were murmuring quietly as the doors were shut and about four qualified Shinigami stood at the front and addressed them all, they explained who they were and then set about giving them a brief welcome to Dispatch and explaining what the course entailed and what was expected of them. The three months training they were there they would be set assignments and coursework which would be graded and be taken into account with their final exam. The final exam would be a practical verification of souls for the field agents and the female Shinigami would have to process the record and details effectively without any mistakes. Both examinations were demanding in their own way.

"Are there any further questions?" Lawrence Anderson said, he was one of the instructors and was better known by the name 'Father', he was also in charge of the glasses department which was the heart and soul of Dispatch.

There were a few murmurs but no one spoke at first then 'Father' looked up and caught sight of someone at the back with their hand in the air, "Yes?" he said peering up at them and then down at his clipboard searching through the list slowly for a name.

"Grell Sutcliff." A voice answered high and loud echoing down the room.

Will, Alex and what seemed to be every other initiate in the room turned around to search for the owner of the voice, it didn't take them long before they were all looking at the same boy who was incredibly hard to miss.

The boy was sat at the very far back of the room on his own lounging casually in his chair balancing on the back two legs and wearing his black Shinigami uniform with both of his legs crossed on top of the desk, he was tall, taller than Alex but about the same height as Will and he was very slim, he drummed his fingers on the back of his chair with one hand whilst sweeping his other hand through his shock of bright red hair. The boy was extremely good looking but his smile deterred everyone straight away, his teeth were sharp like razors and made him look very worrisome as he grinned down at everyone staring at him. The boy's eyes scanned over his fellow classmates taking in their shocked expressions, it pleased him.

"So when do we get our scythe's?" The boy said impertinently, he immediately exuded an intractable air of arrogance and haughtiness and gave the impression that he found himself far superior to everyone in this room with him.

Father did not look pleased and immediately averted his eyes down to his list until he found the boy's name and read his entry grades, "Practical classes start tomorrow Mr. Sutcliff, you will be assigned an initiate scythe with your new Instructor. Are there any other questions?" The boy raised his hand in the air again almost instantly and Father sighed, the rest of the class murmured between themselves about his rudeness, "Yes Mr. Sutcliff?"

"Do we al have to use initiate scythe's?" The boy said swinging his legs off the desk and leaning forward, "Can't those who are sure to pass not be assigned their Dispatch scythe?" There was more murmuring in the class and now a few of the initiates and Instructors were shooting the red haired boy disapproving looks.

"Mr. Sutcliff," Father said loudly so that all the murmuring stopped instantly, "You will _all_ be assigned initiate scythe's despite your entry grades, all initiates are equal here and there will be no special exceptions for be assigned initiate scythe's despite your entry grades, all initiates are equal here and there will be no special exceptions for _anyone_." Father shot the boy a severe look and the boy leaned back with a slight smirk; Father then addressed the initiates, they would now be split into four classes and taken for a tour of Dispatch.

"His attitude stinks." Alex whispered to Will and Will smiled in approval but pressed his finger to his lips as Father began to speak again.

"I will be taking Class A for a tour of the building myself this morning as your Instructor is currently out on duty, please listen carefully for your names and follow me." Father looked down the list and began shouting names, Will and Alex were both surprised to hear that they were in the same group and made their way out of the classroom to wait for Father. There were two other students already in the hall waiting when Will and Alex came out and they were shortly followed by more.

"What was all that about?" Alex said to Will as they leaned against the wall waiting, "His attitude was absolutely shocking, I don't know how he managed to get through the entry process." Alex looked absolutely bewildered by the whole thing and Will merely shrugged.

"I've heard about him," Said one of the other students in the hall, he was sitting on the windowsill looking quite scruffy in his uniform with the collar, waistcoat and tie undone, his hair was chin length and blonde swept over to one side and shaved on the right and there was a small amount of hair on his chin, the start of a rough looking goatee, "That's Grell Sutcliff, he's supposed to be a child prodigy, absolute genius in his practical technique." The boy stood up when he saw both Will and Alex's curious looks; he smiled widely and bowed, "Eric Slingby by the way."

"William T. Spears." Will said bowing back.

"Alex Winter." Alex said not moving from the wall.

"Ah another Winter," Eric said, "My father worked in the same department as yours, he said that I might be in the same year as you, haven't your family been in Dispatch for centuries now?"

"Yes," Alex said shortly, "You seem to know a lot about everyone else." Alex didn't quite like Eric, he kept staring down at her legs and when she spoke he merely raised his eyes slowly up to her chest, "My face is here!" Alex said leaning forwards suddenly and pointing to her head, Eric looked up in shock and laughed nervously.

The door to Lecture room 1 opened and out came the red haired boy with a haughty expression, he scanned over the rest of the group and rolled his eyes sighing and then sat on the windowsill a little further down from them all crossing his arms and looking off out the window whistling. Everyone in the group eyed him with disapproval that now they would have to put up with him for a whole year and went back to their conversations amongst themselves trying to ignore him.

"Oh god." Alex said under her breath. "Why him?"

Will looked a bit torn, he looked over his shoulder at the red haired boy only to find that he was no longer looking out the window but was instead looking their way slyly then quickly he averted his eyes and went back to staring out of the window trying to cover up the fact he had been staring at them.

"He's probably nervous like the rest of us." Will said, "Maybe he doesn't have any friends." Will was generally a nice natured and caring sort of person, he had always been involved with his studies and hadn't had many friends in the past so he knew how it felt to be alone.

Alex gave Will a worried look, she knew what was going through his mind but she didn't want her and Will to be held back by a disruptive initiate like him even if he was a child genius, "No, please Will, don't...I know what you're thinking. It's just us remember, here for each other, we'll both pass together."

It was too late, Will was ignoring Alex, he knew that she was right but he couldn't help feeling sorry for the boy who obviously didn't have very good social skills and was already making himself an outcast on his first day, this boy, Grell Sutcliff, was obviously doing this for attention and to try and gain himself some friends in a strange kind of way. Will walked over past the other students in his class and approached the red haired boy who was now looking down from where he was sat on the high sill with a furtive stare.

"I am William T. Spears." Will bowed for a moment waiting for a reply but it never came, he straightened up and looked at the boy who looking down with a supercilious expression.

"So what." The boy said impertinently.

Will was a little taken aback but he assumed that the boy was merely being defensive to protect himself, "I thought we might introduce ourselves, we are in the same class after all. I thought you might like to join us." Will said awkwardly gesturing over to the others.

The boy huffed and gave Will a bored look, "So, we might all be friends together?" The boy watched as Will said nothing and a smile crept on the boy's face and he laughed, "I don't need to make any friends, after all there's not much point, I probably won't see any of you again after I pass and you all have to go home." The boy slid off the windowsill and raised an eyebrow grinning at Will.

That was it, Alex had been stood watching the scene trying to hold herself back from getting involved but now she couldn't contain herself anymore, she pushed past Eric, who had been trying to stare down her dress, and through the other students storming over to Will's side where she came to a halt with her hands clenched at her sides and a red flush spreading through her cheeks.

"Just who do you think you are speaking to him like that?" Alex said staring the red haired boy in the eyes with a furious look but containing her wish to hit him.

"Alex-" Will said trying to intervene but she stepped in front of him.

"He was just trying to be nice." Alex said watching as the boy looked shocked for a moment but then he leaned on the wall with a smug smile casually keeping his composure; he looked around the side of Alex at Will and gestured to her.

"Is this your girlfriend?" The boy said with a small giggle, "That's a shame." The boy looked Alex up and down with a curious expression until he came to her hair, red but darker than his, the boy's face changed instantly and he looked angry, "There's not enough room in Dispatch for the two of us darling," the boy said crossly but then his face broke into a contented expression, "Well maybe there is, in your case the office."

Alex's eyes widened in fury and she felt her arm rising through the air in the direction of his face, the boy's eyes darted down to it and widened like hers, just in time Will grabbed her by the back of her jacket and pulled her away just before Father came out into the hall and saw what was going on. If Alex had struck the boy in Father's presence then she would have been straight into a disciplinary and probably sent straight out of Dispatch without a second thought. Will could not let Alex and the red haired boy, Grell Sutcliff, anywhere near each other from this point onwards, otherwise there would be more confrontations between the two redheads.

"Are we all here?" Father said eyeing up Will, Alex and Grell with a dubious look. "Good, then lets start our tour of Dispatch without further objections."

Alex and Grell shot each other looks of disdain before Will ushered Alex down the corridor; Will sighed, Alex had always had a bad temper and short fuse and he'd had trouble with her in the past trying to make sure she didn't get into arguments or fights, now he not only had to watch out for Alex but also for this boy, Grell Sutcliff, the spark to Alex's flame.


	2. Chapter 2

The day drew on, as did Alex's anger, Will tried as hard as he could to distract Alex but it seemed to be pointless in doing so, the boy Grell Sutcliff seemed equally persistent at bearing the same grudge as Alex and both the redheads spent the morning shooting each other evil looks so Will gave up, things would calm down soon enough, he hoped, they were reaching the end of their tour and breaking for lunch now; Will would be able to drag Alex away as far as he could until the afternoon class when they would meet their Sensei and have to be back in the same room as Grell Sutcliff.

Father explained where they should be in the afternoon and that they would be informed of the dorm allocations in the afternoon class then bid them farewell, Will took hold of Alex's arm and pulled her swiftly off before she or Grell could start an argument. Will stopped at an empty table in the cafeteria and let go of her arm, Alex sulkily sat down in the chair and looked up at him.

"Coffee?" Will said.

"Yes." Alex said instantly and Will walked off to fetch them some drinks. Alex sat moodily scraping her heel across the smooth surface of the cafeteria thinking about the red haired boy and his obnoxious attitude, she didn't even notice when Will returned with two steaming cups and sat opposite her.

"Well that was a good start to things." Will said giving her a hard look and his lips drawing into a thin line while he regarded his friend.

"I'm sorry Will," Alex said taking the cup he was holding out to her, "But did you actually hear what he said to you? I couldn't just stand there and not do anything...I'm not like you."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Will said looking a bit hurt, "You think I didn't want to say anything to him after his impertinent behaviour? I'm sorry if I got the wrong impression of him."

"I didn't mean it that way," Alex said looking embarrassed, "Your good at keeping your cool when things like that happen, I just explode and can't control myself. I need to start being more like you." Alex looked up from her coffee and saw Will with a slight smile, she smiled back, they couldn't stay mad at each other for long.

"I just thought he might have been a bit like me." Will said taking a sip of his scalding hot coffee but not flinching in the slightest.

Alex snorted, "I don't think I've ever met any two people who are so different. You mature; sensible, hard working...he seems lazy, irresponsible and a nightmare."

Will smiled ruefully, "I thought he kind of reminded me of you." Will looked up at Alex who was chewing the inside of her bottom lip and had one eyebrow raised whilst she wore a look of irritation, he knew that would have wound her up but at the same time he saw the side of her mouth juddering and then she smiled and leaned forward pushing him gently.

"Asshole." Alex said.

Alex and Will spent the entire lunch sat in the cafeteria by the window chattering away about anything and nothing, Will kept the subject of Grell out of the way as much as possible and soon he was completely forgotten about, Alex was smiling again and they were both back to their normal carefree selves, it was odd how one person could change the character of others so easily, by making one deadly serious and the other completely enflamed.

Lunch was over, the red haired boy hadn't appeared once to disrupt them but now they had to make their away to the afternoon class and meet their Sensei. Alex and Will entered the classroom and there was the red haired boy sat on the left hand side of the classroom already at his chosen desk, Will squeezed Alex's arm reassuringly and Alex diverted her eyes from him and went about acting as if he wasn't there at all then Will and Alex found where they wanted to sit near the front.

"Spears wasn't it?" Grell said leaning on his desk and staring at Will and Alex, "I hope I didn't cause too much trouble between you and your girlfriend." Grell grinned and watched as Will turned to face him but Alex drew in a long breath and continued to stare at her Sensei's desk.

"No trouble at all." Will said shortly, "Alex isn't my partner."

"Oh," Grell said leaning back with a wide smile, "So there is still hope for you."

The other students start to file into the classroom along with Eric who immediately grabbed the desk next to Alex much to her dismay. They were sat a short time before they all realised that they were here and the clock had passed the allocated time when their Sensei was due to arrive, the class descended into slight mayhem and raised voices in the absence of their tutor.

"Maybe we should go and find out what's happening?" Will suggested to Alex after another few minutes without the appearance of their Sensei.

"Good idea." Alex said.

Grell made a tut noise and they both looked over at him, "Why bother, we've only got another half an hour before we can get out of here, personally I would rather see the back of this day and get on with tomorrow. You really want to do some work that much?"

"Well," Alex smiled, "Unfortunately some of us will have to do some work if they want to pass the final exam, being lazy and overconfident is only going to result in a fail." Alex watched Grell's smile fade quickly and his eyes flashed with resentment.

"Alex?" Grell said raising his eyebrows, "Isn't that a boy's name?" Grell smiled widely again antagonising her, "Do you like dressing up like a girl then? Because you're not doing a very good job of it." Grell giggled and leaned back on his chair looking triumphant.

Alex felt the rage swelling up in her as she watched him giggling at her with his eyes locked on to her face watching her expression change swiftly, Alex wanted so much to walk over there and slap him but she had to listen to Will and keep herself calm, her fury began to subside but another feeling sat there uneasily gnawing at her, hurt, she had never felt so offended in her life, she hated Grell Sutcliff.

"You're not worth my time." Alex said turning away in her seat to face the front of the class again, Grell wouldn't last long here with his attitude; it was just a matter of time before he got on the wrong side of the instructors and failed.

"My my, you're a lively bunch." Said a strange voice from the back of the room, all the talking stopped and students turned around to see a figure sat on one of the very back desks watching them all with a large grin.

"Sensei!" One of the students exclaimed getting hastily into their seats then all the other students followed suit sheepishly looking shocked and caught off guard.

Alex watched as their Sensei stood up and swept slowly towards the front of the room looking at them all and she couldn't divert her eyes for a moment as she looked up at him in awe. He was tall like her with long silver flowing hair and clad in a long black double breasted coat and knee high buckled boots, he was slim and incredibly handsome and she could only see a little of his luminous green eyes through his long silver fringe. He sat on the edge of his desk in front of Alex and folded his arms slowly still grinning at them all, Alex closed her mouth from its open position and tried to take her eyes away but it was no good, everyone else was sitting transfixed as well.

"H-how long have you been sitting there Sensei?" Eric said nervously.

"Long enough." Their Sensei said, his grin not faltering for a moment, "Yes long enough to get a good impression of what I'm dealing with this year." Their Sensei looked across the class once more taking in his students faces and Alex watched as his gaze drifted over and landed finally on Alex, she quickly looked down to hide her blush but it was too late, he'd noticed already, "Well then, let's go on with things, I do keep quite busy as most of you might already know."

Alex knew all about her Sensei already though she was a bit shocked to find out he would be taking a class this year, he was Dispatch's top field agent and usually extremely busy with the verification of very prestigious records, he was known through Dispatch merely as Undertaker, no one had ever heard him called anything else and many wondered if he really did have a name other than that. Alex's father had told her stories about him when she were little and she had been dying to see him ever since she's heard her first one, the Undertaker was her idol and now her dreams had come true that she were in his presence.

The Undertaker paced up and down in front of his class, "First of all, dormitories," he went over to window and pulled up the blinds and pointed one long black nailed finger at a long one floored building a few hundred yards away on the far side of the Dispatch grounds, "All initiates will be living together there, all your things have been delivered already and are waiting in your rooms. You'll find the keys to them on your desk in front of you." All the students looked down at the desks and sure enough keys had miraculously appeared in front of them, they had no idea where from. "Any questions?" He said but didn't give them enough time to respond, "Good, next, groups." Will and Alex looked at each other with amazement and then up to their Sensei who had now moved so quickly he was sat behind the desk rifling through his register.

"We have to split you up into groups according to how Dispatch want initiates training." The Undertaker said throwing the list over his shoulder so that the papers scattered everywhere, "I seem to have been given the top students, those of your with the highest entry grades, I hope you prove yourselves an entertaining bunch though from what I've seen already I have no fear of that. I'm quite confident that there are a lot of future members of Dispatch sat here." The Undertaker grinned pressing his black nailed finger together and watching them quietly muttering amongst themselves proudly, "Alright, calm down." The Undertaker stood up and pointed straight at Eric's face, his nail only millimetres away from one of his eyes. "Slingby."

"Y-yes Sensei." Eric stammered trying to lean away.

The Undertaker grinned, "At the back with those two." He lifted his arm pointing at two other initiates, one girl and another boy; Eric slid out of his seat carefully trying not to take his eye out with the Undertaker's long black nail then he scurried off to sit with the others. The Undertaker continued to make his way towards the back of the room pointing at frightened initiates and making them move into groups of three until he reached the back and turned around looking straight at Grell, "You, Sutcliff, the unruly one." The Undertaker pointed at the redhead, "Over there with the morose one and his blushing companion."

Grell, Will and Alex all stared at each other in horror, they had not been expecting this; Will and Alex half expected Grell to start shouting his disapproval but it never came, clearly his was as equally awed and nervous of his Sensei as everyone else in the class, crossing the Undertaker would be very unwise. Grell found his feet and gritted his teeth as he shoved his hands in his pockets and sauntered over to the other two sitting in a desk behind them heavily and staring at the surface of it irritably.

"How interesting this year is going to prove," The Undertaker said with a laugh strolling back to the front of the class and sitting behind his desk and looking across them all, "You will work, live and train together to become successful Shinigami." He said addressing them all, "I'm relying on you all to make me a proud Sensei at the end of it all. I hope you don't disappoint me...any of you." He said paying particular attention to Will, Grell and Alex at the front.

The Undertaker looked down at his wrist and stood up immediately, "Classes start properly tomorrow at nine, be here on time wont you? After lunch can the ladies make their way to the Record Library and the gents to Training Room 1 for your separate classes. Enjoy the rest of your afternoon, I'm afraid I must be going, you see someone has a date with death ha-ha, that being me of course." The Undertaker grinned and reached under his desk suddenly withdrawing the largest and most frightening looking scythe that they had ever seen, it was so large that many of them wondered how it could have been hidden there in the first place, the Undertaker slung it over his shoulder and then with a final grin he walked off out of the room and disappeared from sight.

"So...cool." Eric said staring at the empty doorway through which the Undertaker had just left.

Will and Alex heard Grell sigh from behind them and then his chair scraped across the floor, "Just because we have to work in this group doesn't mean we have to hang around together all the time." Grell said and Alex and Will turned around to look at him, he was stood up looking bored and staring off into space. "I'll do my work, you do yours and we'll stay out of each other's way," Grell said looking down on them, "Besides I wouldn't want to sully my image being around you two too long." Grell grinned and walked off, "Tomorrow then, ta ta!" he waved and disappeared like the Undertaker had.

"God I hate him." Alex said turning to Will, "This is slowly starting to turn into a nightmare."

"I'm sure Sensei has done this on purpose to test us all, just think about it. He was sat here long enough observing us to know who got on with whom." Will suggested as they got out of their seats and followed the rest of the initiates who were all leaving in front of them. "I wouldn't put it past someone like him to mix things up a bit, but then you're the expert on him, not me." Will smiled watching Alex as she smiled at him.

"I really can't believe I've finally seen him, let alone got him as our Sensei." Alex said quietly going off into her own world, "Everything dad told me was right, the hair, the scars...and his personality...he really is quite odd...I thought dad was just making it up." Alex looked at Will who was giving her a wry smile and she instantly wiped the whimsical look off her face and made herself serious, "I just know we're going to pass if he's our Sensei."

Will laughed a little, "Come on, let's go get settled in, I've had enough _fun_ for one day."


	3. Chapter 3

There were quite a few other initiates hanging around outside the front doors to the dormitory when Will and Alex turned up, they slid past the rabble and entered the building looking around for where this list might be, Will walked straight over to a notice board hung on the wall and waved Alex over as he ran his finger down it and found their names.

"Here, shared communal room three, rooms A and B, that's good, we're quite close to each other." Will said as they set off down the long corridor.

Many of the dormitory doors were open and initiates were conversing with each other and hanging out in different rooms, some were even sat in the corridor lounging all over the floor and Will and Alex had to step over them to get through. Now that the first day had just ended some of the initiates were celebrating with a drink or two and Alex couldn't help but want to grab one herself.

"Will, why don't we settle in and then meet some new people?" Alex said jogging over to Will's side and looking at him hopefully.

"Alex," Will said giving her a furtive look, "Your parents asked me to watch over you, make sure you didn't start lagging in your studies. That goes for making sure you don't start enjoying yourself too much now that you've got a bit of freedom."

"It's just one night...can't you just loosen up a bit." Alex said huffing and linking Will's arm, Alex's parents were rather strict and they had never let her socialise much. Will blushed and looked down at his feet leaning away from her as she leaned in grinning at him and batting her eyelashes, "Please! One night."

Will pulled himself away, "You go ahead, I'm going to do some revising for tomorrow, I want to be in top form for the physical class. I'm not going to let my grades slide for the sake of making friends with people who probably won't pass."

"Don't say things like that." Alex said punching him lightly in the arm, "You're starting to sound like _him_." Alex and Will came to the end of the corridor; the door in front had a large three on it, Will took out his key and unlocked the door holding it open for Alex who walked through without a second thought with Will following closely behind.

"Okay so maybe closer to each than I thought..." Will trailed off.

Will and Alex stood in the middle or a medium sized communal living room, there was a kitchen with a table and chairs to the left and a seating area to the right with a low table and pillows on the floor near a large pair of patio doors which led out in a small zen garden; to the far end of the communal living room was a small hall leading off to three rooms and a bathroom, their suitcases and boxes were stacked in the middle of the living room. It was spacious enough for both of them and they smiled at each other and set about getting settled in. Both Will and Alex's parents had expressed wishes that the two of them might make a union one day, so there would be no objection if they shared a dormitory for financial purposes but Alex and Will had both protested to the idea of such a union, they had better things to do that settle down.

"Will..." Alex said as she headed towards the back of the room to go and find her room.

"What is it?" Will said flicking the switch of the kettle and looking up to see Alex waving him over, his eyebrows drew down and he walked slowly over, "What is it-" he said but then he stopped talking and listened, there was loud music coming from room C. "Looks like we're sharing." Will said walking over to the door and knocking but no one answered, he knocked again and there was still no reply, "They must have left their music on and gone out." Will suggested turning to Alex who in turn shrugged.

Will opened the doors to room A and B and they both looked inside, room B was bigger than room C by a vast amount, "You take the one in the middle, I don't have many things, this room will be sufficient for my needs."

"As long as it has a bed right?" Alex said walking off to go and fetch her things.

"Am I that predictable?" Will smiled turning around.

"Yes," Alex said taking a couple of boxes of her things in one arm and pulling her large suitcase of clothes with the other, "Now finish making that tea." She winked at him as she walked past and entered her room throwing her boxes on the floor and herself face first on the bed.

Will and Alex spent the rest of their afternoon sorting out their rooms and making them more liveable, Will didn't change his room much, he merely stacked all of his hundreds of books here and there wherever they would fit whilst Alex kitted out the room exactly to match the one she had left at home although she had trouble making her bed into a four poster, mainly due to the fact that it didn't have any posts, instead she pinned one of her throws to the ceiling above her bed, Alex had trouble sleeping without something over her.

The evening was drawing in and neither of the two had seen anything of their other roommate, they had actually questioned themselves whether they should just open the door and go in, maybe whoever was in there had had an accident and was lying unconscious on the floor but they dismissed the idea quickly, a mere accident wouldn't cause a major problem to a Shinigami, they were immortal after all, only a death scythe could end them.

Alex was lying on her bed staring up at the throw above her bed, she had previously lay down for a moment after sorting out her extensive wardrobe and had fallen asleep for an hour, now she felt rejuvenated and was still itching for that drink from earlier. Alex sat up and grabbed at a black sweater that was hung over her chair and pulled it on over her tank top and jeans; she jumped off the bed and pushed her feet into her shoes.

"I'm going to go and have a walk round for a little while." Alex said as she walked into the living room and caught sight of Will sat on the couch reading from a rather large book with notes scattered next to him, he gave her a solemn look and shook his head. "You don't want to come with me?" Alex said leaning on the back of the couch and poking him in the shoulder, Will shrugged her off.

"No." Will said returning to his book.

"Fine. Boring." Alex said poking him in the back of the head with a smile and walking off towards the door that led down to the other rooms.

"Alex." Will said and Alex looked over her shoulder as she turned the door handle, "Don't come back drunk, and don't make me have to come and find you either..." Will gave her a knowing look and Alex knew what he meant but there was no chance of that happening, Alex would never give up something so precious to merely anyone, "Thanks Will, its great to know you think of me so highly." Alex said teasing him, she knew Will wasn't very good with words and watched as he stumbled around with an apology, Alex laughed, "Will, I'm not interested in anything like that anyway, I just want to make some friends." Alex grinned and watched as Will calmed down and smiled back at her, "Don't wait up!"

It didn't take Alex long to meet some of the other initiates and get herself acquainted with a few of them who were planning to make a late night out of things, everyone seemed to love the beautiful and fun-loving Shinigami and it wasn't long before a lot of the trainee field agents were trying to make passes at her including Eric who had seen her and attached himself to the group for fun and frolics he thought there might have been later.

Alex and about four other Shinigami were lounging around in the hallway drinking when the door down the corridor leading outside opened and a familiar redhead walked in. The group eyed Grell dubiously and then went back to muttering and laughing to each other as he walked down the hall with his hands in his pockets, his head held high and a look of contempt at them, especially Alex.

"He really doesn't like you." One the Shinigami girls said leaning over to Alex.

"I couldn't care." Alex said as she lay on her side on the floor holding her can of beer and shooting Grell as evil a look as she could possibly muster, "He's an asshole, he shouldn't be here." Alex said loudly and Grell heard her and a smile flickered in the corner of his mouth and then disappeared as he continued forwards looking down on them all. "What kind of a name is Grell anyway, were his parents so horrified by the sight of him they had to give him matching name?"

"Alex," Eric said with a smirk of approval, "That's pretty cruel."

Alex took a sip of her beer and peered up at Grell who was now very close and staring at her intently with a wide grin and a murderous look in his eyes, "I don't care Eric, he deserves it." Alex said remembering how nasty he had been to her earlier; Grell came up to the group and none of them moved out of his way, he stood still with his hands on his hips staring down at them all with a sneer.

"Drinking on a school night?" Grell said looking across them all until he let his eyes fall on Alex, "You especially...Alex wasn't it?" Grell shook his head, "Who's being overconfident and lazy now?"

"Shut up." Alex said looking away and finishing her beer then crushing it in her hand and throwing it in his direction so that it hit one of his shoes.

Grell laughed, "That's not very ladylike, you must be a boy after all." Grell stepped through the crowd but as he reached Alex and was about to pass her by she held out her leg suddenly and he tripped forwards landing face first on the floor, "What the hell!" Grell said getting to his feet and holding his hand over his nose and then pulling it away to see all the blood covering it, Grell's face turned to Alex and his eyes were wide and wild, "You made me bleed..." he grinned malevolently at her, Alex felt a cold trickle down her spine as she took in the look in his eyes, she'd never seen anything like them before and it worried her slightly, maybe getting on the wrong side of Grell was a bad idea, there was something unstable in him and she would certainly be no match for him in a fight according to his grades.

Grell dabbed at his nose, "You'll pay for that but right now I'm too tired to deal with you, I have better things to do, like sleep." Grell grinned down at her evilly one last time and then turned on his heel and hastily walked off down the corridor slamming fire doors behind him as he went.

"I really didn't mean to bust his nose like that. I just meant to trip him up." Alex said turning back to the others and feeling a little guilty about the whole thing but the others merely started laughing whooping.

"That was so funny, I was finding it so hard to keep a straight face through all that." The other Shinigami girl besides Alex said.

"Yeah, don't feel too bad." Said one of the boys, "He deserved it, like you said, he shouldn't be here. Besides he insulted you."

"You look nothing like a boy...He is rather full of himself isn't he?" Eric said looking off down the corridor but Grell had disappeared. "It was just a matter of time before something like that happened; I hope it teaches him a lesson about being rude to ladies."

Alex still wondered why she felt bad about the whole thing but dismissed the thought quickly, it was quite late and she needed to be up in a few hours, Alex stood up and swayed a little, "I'm going to get to bed otherwise I'm not going to be fit for lessons tomorrow."

"Good plan." Eric said getting up beside her, "Which way is your room then?" Eric said jokingly, Alex pushed him away from her playfully much to his annoyance and said her goodbyes to everyone.

Alex fumbled around with the key in the lock until it turned, the communal living room was in darkness and Alex found it difficult to navigate around as she still didn't know the room too well. The whole place was in silence, she couldn't hear any music coming from room C anymore as she finally got to the short corridor leading to the bedrooms. Alex peered into Will's room to see if he were waiting up for her but he was soundly asleep in bed with a book on his chest, Alex smiled and closed the door quietly. As Alex was about to go into her room she noticed that the door to room C was slightly ajar, Alex stood for a moment wondering whether she could have a look inside without anyone noticing but decided against it and went into her own room where she instantly collapsed on the bed fully clothed and started to snore in her half drunk state.

The next morning Alex awoke to find herself tangled in her bed sheets and her hair all hanging out loose, Alex quickly scooped it up and piled it all back up, Alex didn't like wearing her hair down long, she felt it attracted far too much unwanted attention anyway being the colour it was. Alex clambered out of her bed and grabbed a towel from the radiator, she didn't feel half as rough as she thought and today would be the first proper day of her training so she had to be ready.

"Morning." Alex said leaning in on Will's room but he wasn't inside, Alex leaned back out and heard someone singing beautifully in the bathroom, Alex smiled and listened to the singing for a while then she knocked on the door loudly and the singing stopped, "I can hear you Will, I didn't know you could sing like that, you've got a great voice, you'll have to sing to me sometime!"

"Alex." Will said from somewhere that wasn't the bathroom, Alex turned around in bewilderment and saw Will stood in the middle of the living room with books lucked under his arm.

"Will you're there." Alex said looking from him to the bathroom door and then back again, "So who's in there? Unsociable room C?" Alex smiled putting her hand over her mouth in embarrassment. "Whoops!"

"Just get dressed, we better leave." Will said sheepishly and Alex noticed that there was something wrong straight away.

"Will, I need to use the bathroom; I'm not leaving without at least washing my face." Alex said with narrowed eyes.

"We haven't got time, come on." Will said trying to wave her over.

"I haven't even had any breakfast, plus we've got at least an hour until class." Alex said crossing her arms and looking at Will suspiciously, "Why do you want to leave so soon? Will..."

"Alex come on." Will said still waving her over and trying to mouth something to her that she couldn't quite make out.

As Alex stared harder at him she finally figured out what he was trying to say but it was too late and the bathroom door opened and she was now stood face to face with Grell Sutcliff who grinned evilly and flung his jacket over his shoulder as he stood wearing his tie loosely around the neck of his unbuttoned white shirt.

"Thanks for the compliment, even if it is from _you_ but I'm afraid I won't be gracing _you_ with my singing again." Grell sneered running his hand through his hair, "Though it does look like we'll be spending more time together than I thought so don't bother me..." Grell said sliding past her and walking into his room, "Or I'll make this place hell...Alex." Grell said kicking his door shut with his foot.


End file.
